History: (Kamandi #1) - After a nuclear holocaust the remains of humanity moved into underground complexes until the radiation dissipated from the surface. Kamandi, named after the Command D bunker in NYC, was raised by his grandfather, watching microfilm and learning about Earth before the Great Disaster. As a youth his grandfather sent him to the surface to reclaim the land, quixotically hoping the world would be as humanity had left it. He saw a world reclaimed by nature, and paddled down the Hudson until he came upon a group of humans, acting like animals, who fled from him in fear. Returning to Command D he found the bunker penetrated by raiders who'd killed his grandfather. He drew his firearm, murdering one of them, but the survivor shocked him, an intelligent upright wolf. The wolf-man was equally shocked, in the world after the Great Disaster humans had deevolved into savage beasts. He pursued Kamandi into flooded tunnels, and Kamandi killed him by dropping a power line into the water, avenging the man who raised him. He took the Rat-Men's vehicle and drove to the NJ Turnpike, coming across a military battle between Tiger-Men and Leopard-Men. One Leopard-Man was preparing to snipe the Tiger-Men's leader Great Caesar, and Kamandi couldn't allow it, shooting the sniper. Caesar was impressed, and ordered his men to bring Kamandi to the royal city where he would serve as a pet. Kamandi was horrified to be put in a kennel with feral humans, and attempted escape, but failed. On Caesar's victorious return the Tiger-Men performed a ceremony of worship adulating a nuclear warhead. Kamandi decided he'd rather die than live in this new world, and tried to use Caesar's heat mace to trigger the bomb. Scientist Dr. Canus stopped him, and assured him there was a place for an oddity like him in this world. He introduced Kamandi to Ben Boxer, a human mutant of full intelligence who was also a human nuclear reactor. Kamandi was overjoyed to not be the last boy on Earth.

(Kamandi #6, 7) - Driving through the desert Kamandi and Flower encountered Lion-Men on motorcycles. The lions were rangers in charge of preserving the endangered human species from poachers. They worried Kamandi would kill himself driving a vehicle, so they subdued him and Flower, bringing them to Sanctuary, a wooded human preserve. The newcomers were attacked by their fellow humans, but Kamandi used his fighting skills to beat them off. Flower was proud of him, telling him that his dominant display now made him leader of the herd. Kamandi saw no honor in that, but Flower suggested he teach them to be more like him, and he liked that idea. Poachers of Puma-Men attacked,  and Kamandi fought them off, but they promised to return. Kamandi and Flower set themselves up in an abandoned house, and Flower slept soundly, saying she felt safe with her new brave friend. The pumas returned, catching them unaware, and shooting Flower when she fought back. The lions tracking the poachers made their move, arresting the pumas. Their leader Sultin commented that it was heartbreaking seeing the animal Kamandi mourn his lost companion. Sultin gave Flower a military funeral, and Kamandi was honored that his feelings were respected even though he was a mere human. The ceremony was interrupted by Gorilla-Men, who took Kamandi captive and tied him to a stake. The lions kept Tiny, a 100' ape at Sanctuary, and the gorillas fetishized him, seeing him as a way to destroy the lions. Tiny was kept in a former dam that was kept electrified, and the gorillas shot out the power source, offering up Kamandi as a sacrifice. They were displeased to find out that Tiny had a childlike mind and thought Kamandi was a toy for him to play with. The gorillas shot at Tiny to enrage him and get him to attack the lions, but he instead attacked his antagonists. The lions knocked out Tiny with a huge sedative, and returned Kamandi to the city. Once Tiny woke, he rampaged through the city until he retrieved his toy. Tiny climbed a skyscraper with Kamandi in his grip, and Sultin made the hard decision to put Tiny down using biplanes, fearing Tiny would kill his citizens. Tiny was shot down, sad that he would no longer be able to play with Kamandi.

(Kamandi #8) - Sultin led Kamandi around a museum filled with pre-Disaster excavated artifacts, including busts of US presidents and the recently unearthed Lincoln Memorial. Sultin told him the legend of his people, that they escaped a zoo after the Great Disaster and built up Washington, but Kamandi said his history had some holes in it. A guard demanded that Sultin remove Kamandi, telling him there were no pets allowed, and Sultin warned Kamandi that even though he talked he could still be tossed in the pet pound. Kamandi saw a human at the end of a leash and attacked him, calling him a slave and a traitor. Security responded, and Kamandi grabbed one of their guns, threatening them. Sultin begged him to put the weapon down, and Kamandi replied, weeping that he couldn't change man's new place in the world. A mob gathered to bring Kamandi to the pound, so Sultin scooped him up and drove off on his dune-cycle, telling Kamandi his only chance was to make a run for it. He found a crashed train and fell asleep, but was roused by Bear-Men looters. Kamandi was saved by Ben Boxer and Renzi, and was overjoyed to see his friends, who'd escaped captivity during a conflict between the Gorilla-Men and Tiger-Men. They were headed nonstop back to their home of Tracking Site, and Kamandi was eager to join them.

(Kamandi #9, 10) - Kamandi and friends reached Tracking Site in Central America, a globe floating above Earth's surface. Bat-Men attacked them, but were repelled by Tracking Site's sonic laseron. The Serviteks, created to serve the mutants, greeted them, and they replayed the rituals of their astronaut ancestors, from being ferried to an artificial air carier to being saluted by a crowd of Serviteks. Ben, Renzi and Steve fed cartridges in their suits containing info from their survey into the NASA Mind computer, telling Kamandi that once the NASA Mind had enough information it would have a clear picture of Earth after the Great Disaster. Serviteks ambushed them, and paralyzed Ben, Renzi and Steve with a para-shock ray. Their fellow mutant Misfit, who suffered from severe deformities, had reprogrammed the Serviteks using mind control, and intended to practice his powers on his fellow mutants. The Serviteks restrained Kamandi and Misfit showed him his batch of Morticoccus, the deadliest bacteria known to man. It had wiped out all the non-mutant members of Tracking Site, and he planned to use it to control the fate of Earth. Kamandi shoved Misfit into Tracking Site's electric control, disabling him, but also the laseron. The Bat-Men were free to attack Tracking Site, and Misfit revived Ben and the other mutants, telling them that if the Bat-Men damaged the Morticoccus container it would mean the end of life on Earth. Misfit was mauled by the Bats, and Kamandi took him to safety, placing him behind a steel door. Thousands of Bats poured in, despite Ben and the mutants best try at fighting them off, and they decided Tracking Site had to be abandoned. They realized Misfit was in the same room as the Morticoccus, and he was once again in control. He allowed only Kamandi in the room before shutting the door with his telekinesis, and bragged that when Morticoccus was released only he and his fellow mutants would inherit the Earth. He showed Kamandi a film of Morticoccus ravaging the humans from Tracking Site, infecting and killing Ben's father Hiram. Ben used a shaft beneath the room to rescue Kamandi, and they proceeded to activate the Site's magnetic-repulsion engine, sending it into space as they escaped on a hover-jet. Morticoccus escaped its' prison, killing Misfit and the Bats, but it was destined to starve in space with no more life to infect.

(Kamandi #11, 12) - The hoverjet's engine caught on fire, and Kamandi and his allies were forced to jump off, landing in the Atlantic. Kamandi was separated from Ben, Steve and Renzi, being picked up by a Leopard-Men pirate vessel. Captain Bli was amazed to see a talking human, and chained up Kamandi, knowing he'd fetch a pretty price. Kamandi soon escaped his chains, and found the ship's slavehold, where all manner of species were being kept, including an enormous chained creature covered by cloth called the Devil. The Leopard-Men recaptured Kamandi, and brought their captives to Sacker's Department Store in Old Florida. Kamandi stole a guard's gun, forced him to unlock his neckchain, and fled. The Leopard-Men were ordered not to shoot to kill because of the high price Kamandi could fetch at Sacker's. Kamandi fled to Sacker's basement, and found guards keeping the Devil in check. He scared them off with a few well placed shots., and in desperation freed the Devil, who turned out to be a giant grasshopper. Kamandi scrounged resources from Sacker's warehouses, finding portraits of pre-Disaster world leaders and dictators including Hitler being sold as 'Funny Animal Pictures.' He saw humans being driven like cattle by the Leopard-Men, and resolved to free them if he could. He returned to the Devil, who he named Kliklak, but the creature caused a ruckus, alerting the Leopard-Men, who restrained them both. Sacker personally met with Kamandi, and his servant was a young woman that Kamandi mistook for his lost companion Flower. The woman was Flower's sister Spirit, and she wept when she learned her sister was dead. Sacker told Kamandi he'd give him limited freedom, and the chance to train Kliklak. Kamandi accepted, and ran deadly obstacle courses with Kliklak while Leopard-Men bet on him, but he didn't know what Sacker's endgame was. Spirit told him that Sacker was training him for Sacker's Sweeps, a race at Hialeah Racetrack where the racers were pitted against each other in a life or death battle. Spirit told him that Flower fled Sacker's when the current champion Bull Bantam began abusing her. Kamandi confronted Bull and beat him down, with Bull promising to kill him in the race.

(Kamandi #13, 14) - Kamandi fled, ending up at the stakes, where the spectators were displeased at having an animal at the track and turned him over to Sacker's Leopard-Men, who tossed him in a corral. Bull Bantam taunted Kamandi about killing him in the sweeps, but Kamandi again refused to participate. Spirit begged him to race, revealing that she was the prize of the sweeps race, and feared Bull would do to her what he did to her sister. Kamandi asked her to run away with him, but she was loyal to Sacker and refused to leave him. Kamandi took Kliklak and escaped the compound, but Sacker's helicopters fired at him, forcing him onto the track and into the race. He watched as other racers died in booby traps or killed each other, but he refused to hurt his fellow man. Kliklak was shot by another racer, and Kamandi tried to tend to his wounds, crying out for a doctor. The crowd taunted him, demanding action, and Kamandi cursed them for their cruelty. Bull Bantam, mounted on a gigantic buffalo, lassoed Kamandi and dragged him along the racetrack. Prince Tuftan was in attendance, and shot the lasso, freeing Kamandi to the boos of the crowd. Bull critically injured Kliklak with a hand grenade and Kamandi grabbed his buffalo by the horns, blinding it and causing it to topple over. Kamandi and Bull engaged in hand-ti-hand combat, and Kamandi beat him to a pulp, berating him for his treatment of fellow humans. His victory was bittersweet because he had to put down Kliklak with one of the Leopard-Men's guns to end his pain. Kamandi was presented with prizes by a group of women, and he realized he was being treated like a thoroughbred. Spirit embraced Kamandi saying she was his, but Kamandi was furious, telling her humans were neither animals nor prizes, and the Leopard-Men silenced him with a rifle butt to the head. Sacker had enough of Kamandi's antics, and the Leopard-Men locked him in a gas chamber, but Prince Tuftan used his influence to make a trade with Sacker for Kamandi's freedom.

(Kamandi #15) - Sacker made final arrangements with Doctor Canus, and Kamandi asked about the trade and where Sacker was sending them, but the snake refused to dignify him with conversation. Kamandi told him snakes used to live beneath humans, but Sacker thought him mad. Tuftan and his men set off with Kamandi, bound for Washington, DC to find the pre-Disaster relics the Watergate Tapes, which Sacker wanted in his possession. Carolina and Virginia were barren wastelands, and Washington appeared the same as they stopped at the ruins of the capitol. Gorilla-Men lived beneath the capitol, having developed a cult around the Watergate Tapes, and they kidnapped Tuftan and Canus. In their underground lair they prepared to execute the duo, accusing them of trying to take the voices of the spirits in the tapes away from them. Kamandi and the Tiger-Men soldiers fought their way to the lair, and the battle left the capitol in flames. The cultists were using the tapes, amplified through a machine to blast Tuftan and Canus with sonics, but Kamandi shot the machine, disabling it. The remaining apes fled, and Kamandi found that most of the tapes were broken, making them useless.

(Kamandi #16) - Kamandi explored more of Washington's ruins and came upon a biological research station where Gorilla-Men were using humans as test subjects. The scientist Professor Hanuman was intrigued by Kamandi's ability to talk, because he was working on recreating cortexin from the instructions in a diary written by Dr. Michael Grant during the Great Disaster. Cortexin was a brain booster, and Grant used it on gorillas, who began displaying human intelligence. His lab was shelled in the Disaster, flooding the basement with cortexin and freeing the gorillas. He theorized they would replace humanity, and other animals would drink from the stream filled with cortexin. The chief resident had little patience with Hanuman's work, and ordered Kamandi locked up with the other humans. Tuftan was anxious when he couldn't find Kamandi, and soon he and his Tiger-Men located the lab, using cannons to war with the gorillas. Cannon blasts wrecked the cages Kamandi and his fellow humans were locked in, and they made their way to the sewer underneath the lab, where leaking barrels of cortexin still remained, and several of the humans ingested it. Hanuman lay dying, but he witnessed the escape and wondered if intelligent humans would be his gift to the world. Kamandi saw fire and rubble all around him, and went searching for Tuftan.

(Kamandi #17, 18) - The Gorilla-Men army began overwhelming the Tiger-Men, and Tuftan, after consulting with Dr. Canus, decided Kamandi was beyond his help. He couldn't risk more of his soldier's lives, so he called them off and fled. Kamandi was trussed up by the apes, loaded onto a human supply truck alongside other captive humans, and sent off to the Gorilla-Men Pioneer Corps. A rockslide halted the truck, allowing Kamandi and his fellow prisoners. When the Gorilla-Men checked in on them the feral humans trampled over Kamandi to make their escape, and he remained a captive. The pioneers in Ohio, led by Sgt. Ugash, were beset by Human Gophers, mutants that dug up holes to steal their supplies. Firing into and flooding the tunnels failed to deter them, so they tied Kamandi's arms, strapped a crate full of explosives to his back, and marched him into the tunnels. The Gophers opened the crate, and tried to eat the bombs Until Kamandi convinced them bombs were bad, and the Gophers hurled them out of their tunnel, aiming for the apes. Secure that Kamandi was an ally they showed him their underground factory, full of Gophers operating heavy machinery that Kamandi could not fathom the purpose of. The machinery broke, sending the Gophers into a panic, and they scattered all over the tunnels. The machines produced loud noises and vibrations that kept away the Eater, a giant mutated worm, and Kamandi lured it away from his new friends, leading it to the surface. The Gorilla-Men were piling explosives around the center of the Gopher holes, hoping the Gophers would steal them and seal their own doom. Instead the Eater followed Kamandi and ate the explosives, causing it to be blown to pieces. In the confusion Kamandi stole a Pioneer Corps rover and made his way along an abandoned highway.

(Kamandi #19, 20) - Kamandi drove to Illinois where he witnessed what appeared to be Roaring '20s gangsters robbing a truck. They abducted him, and drove him through a tunnel to a pristine version of Chicago. They led him to the back room of a jazz club, saying he was going to be rubbed out for witnessing their crime, but Kamandi managed to grab a tommygun and opened fire. The gangsters fell, but soon got to their feet and Kamandi fled into the streets, where he ran right into Sgt. Ugash and his Gorilla-Men, who's pursued him. They tried to abduct him, but a mob of criminals fired on the Gorilla-Men and threw hand grenades at them, giving Kamandi a chance to slip away. He roused a number of other gangsters from a poker game, telling them they had to protect their city. Ugash shot one of them square in the face, revealing him as a robot. Robot police officers arrived, shoving Kamandi and Ugash into a police wagon and driving them to jail. Ugsah disliked being a captive and ripped the cell door off its' hinges and the pair made their way to a court room where the judge ordered them put to death in the electric chair as public enemies. Ugash was strapped in first, and Kamandi snagged an officer's gun, shooting it out a window to alert nearby Gorilla-Men looking for their leader. The Gorilla-Men freed Ugash and began brawling with the officers as Kamandi made his escape and ended up in a sub-basement filled with endless rows of computers. He learned that the remains of Chicago were a computer-run theme park named Chicago-Land, and the computers told him they hoped he enjoyed his stay and would bring friends before sending him off. Kamandi had hoped there'd be humans running the robots and felt incredibly alone.

(Kamandi #21-23) - Kamandi wandered to Michigan, discovering Monster Lake, where he witnessed a battle between an armored man named Ahab and a group of warriors who'd emerged from a diving bell. Kamandi tried to help, but Ahab had the situation well in hand, forcing his attackers to flee. Ahab was the human guardian of Inspector Zeel, an intelligent dolphin who used a canister full of seawater as survival gear to exist on land. Zeel was interested in Kamandi, and offered to let him travel with them, but Kamandi declined, finding Zeel to be condescending. Kamandi changed a mind when he was almost devoured by a giant crab that emerged from Monster Lake, and together they wandered Michigan's wastelands, and Zeel showed him the Barrier, a zone of radiation that contained the Domain of the Devils. Feral humans attacked them, damaging Zeel's container before fleeing when they heard the buzzing of the Devils. Zeel would need to get back to water, and told Kamandi if he didn't make it to find Seaway and tell them "Base Found." They staid near the Barrier to avoid more attacks from ferals, but a Devil, an enormous mutated wasp, broke through the Barrier and attacked. Kamandi stumbled into a deep ditch. Kamandi, Zeel and Ahab were saved by Ben Boxer, Renzi and Steve, who were working with the dolphins as a Radiation Rescue Squad, saving those who'd gotten to close to the Barrier and keeping Devils at bay. They were thrilled to see their own friend, and after placing Zeel in a moisture bag they made their way to Seaway, the dolphin's underwater city. Kamandi, Zeel and Ahab were placed in a decontamination unit to remove excess radiation, and when they recovered the mutants gave Kamandi a tour of the dolphin's peaceful utopia. The killer whales warred with them, and Zeel discovered the base of their main raider, a human named Red Baron, in Monster Lake. Ben showed Kamandi the squires' quarters, where humans were trained as warriors and assigned to a dolphin. Dolphin Teela had a crush on Kamandi, and received a permit to make him her squire, but he bristled at the idea of being a servant. Teela told him humans were partners, not slaves, but as she talked Red Baron attacked, killing her with a speargun and blowing up one of the squire quarters. Ben and the others prepared to fight back, and Kamandi demanded to join them to avenge Teela. Kamandi went on a ski-team patrol, strapping on water-skis and being led by two dolphins in search of raiders. He found the Red Baron, who killed Kamandi's two dolphins and nearly drowned him before Ben, Steve and Renzi saved him. Kamandi wanted another crack at him, saying he hated men like Red Baron who made war a way of life. The Baron ambushed another ski-patrol, killing a number of humans, including Ahab. Zeel was heartbroken when Kamandi broke the news to him, having become inseparable from his squire. Ben, Steve and Renzi decided to go after the Baron themselves, changing into their metal forms. Kamandi joined them, and they soon found the Baron. During the fight Ben leapt on the Baron and his supply of explosives detonated. The Baron was dead, but Kamandi could find no trace of his friends. The Red Baron's killer whale master found him dead and sunk Kamandi's ship, preparing to kill him for destroying his perfect murder machine. Kamandi told him the Baron's death was his fault for engaging in meaningless brutal war, and the stunned whale swam off.

(Kamandi #24) - Kamandi clutched a piece of driftwood, and the tide took him to a small, remote island, dominated by a large, crumbling pre-Disaster building. Kamandi met ape Flim-Flam and his human companions Jukie, Lukie and Dukie and they immediately feared him, accusing Kamandi of being the Curse, a haunting presence that had been tormenting them. After a brief scuffle the Curse, who was watching them, levitated and shattered a number of boulders before using his telekinetic powers to bounce Kamandi off a few stone walls, knocking him unconscious. Flim-Flam and his companions carried Kamandi inside the house, and seeing they had nothing to fear from him, revived him. Kamandi searched the building, hopeful somewhere inside he’d learn the secret of the Curse, but he was discouraged when every book he touched crumbled to dust. The Curse tormented them by twisting Dukie’s body into a monstrous form and terrifying the group with winds and flames before collapsing the roof on Flim-Flam. Kamandi dragged Flim-Flam to safety, angering the Curse who said they were all his playthings, and they lived only so long as tormenting them amused him. The Curse possessed Lukie, but Kamandi noted that the Curse had to break his hold when Jukie rushed to the young boy’s aid. Kamandi led Jukie around with a rope to direct him, and examined some documents that didn’t crumble. The building was once the Reim Institute, and was undertaking Project 412, a government program involving ESP. Kamandi realized Jukie was immune to the Curse’s power because he was simnple-minded. The Curse disliked his secrets being uncovered, and confronted them. Kamandi had worked out that the 412 subjects were cats, and the Curse was their powerful descendant, mutated into humanoid form after the Great Disaster. The Curse said he was expected to play with his prey even though he was much more than just a cat. Flim-Flam directed Dukie to grab the Curse from behind, and Dukie proceeded to fling him out a window. Kamandi looked out the shattered window, seeing stones and sea, but no more Curse.

(Kamandi #25) - Flim-Slam showed Kamandi the wrecked remains of his showboat while they tried to figure out how to escape the island. Ben Boxer, Steve and Renzi walked onto shore, having walked the entire sea bottom in their organic steel form. Flim-Flam and his companions hid until Kamandi assured them his mutant friends were no threat. Flim-Flam mentioned that he had a popular traveling show with Dukei, Lukie and Jukie performing acrobatic tricks and a juggling act, Flim -Flam said if Kamandi and his mutant friends joined his act people would call him Flim-Flam the Great, but everyone was insulted by the offer. A giant mutant sea creature attacked them, before being dragged under the sea by an equally gigantic rival mutant. Kamandi and his friends knew they had to get off the island fast, and searched the Reim Institute grounds until they found a hovercraft. After saving the vessel from a mutant eel they set set course away from the island. The engine gave out just as they were confronted by flying sharks that battered the hovercraft. Kamandi managed to fight them off long enough for Ben Boxer to get the engine running again, and they soon spotted land protected by a great wall.

(Kamandi #26-28) - Kamandi and friends tried to figure out how to scale the vast walls, and fell in luck with a giant mutant eagle. Ben Boxer and a more reluctant Kamandi agreed they’d use the eagle to fly up the wall, and hoped to reunite with their friends later. Flim-Flam, his men and Renzi and Steve said their goodbyes as Ben and Kamandi flew into the Dominion of the Devils. They found a gorgeous, yet twisted rainforest inhabited with giant insects and mutated vegetation. A helicopter fired down on them, and  Ben turned into his steel form, downing the helicopter with a thrown log. Leopard-Men scrambled out of the crashed copter, which was marked with the Sacker’s Company logo, and Kamandi realized Sacker must have sent them to despoil and loot the rainforest. Kamandi confiscated their guns, but everyone had to flee when someone stampeded insects towards them. Ben Boxer was trampled by a herd of giant grasshoppers, but was unharmed, and Kamandi shed a tear remembering his friend Kliklak. They spotted more Leopard-Men riding a thresher, mowing down the forest and spraying it with defoliant. Sacker had ordered the Leopard-Men to clear the forest to build a processing plant, and Kamandi badly wanted to shoot them, but Ben held him back. They ran into Captain Pypar, a bulldog, and his bayonet wielding servant, an ant named Aborigine. Pypar was a member of the Horse Marines, and was in conflict with the Leopard-Men because they’d violated their Atlantic Testament. He volunteered Kamandi and Ben Boxer as the latest recruits into the Marines, and gave them their marching orders, leading them to Aborigine’s ant-hill. Aborigine used his “look-see” power to locate Leopard-Men outside the ant-hill, so Pypar set dynamite and told his troops to march away from danger. Kamandi said they should be running, but Pypar replied that there was no breaking of ranks in his army. Outside the ant-hill they found the surviving Leopard-Men, who were occupying a well-armed citadel, running to find the source of the explosion. Pypar discovered their vast weapons cache, but some Leopard-Men guards caught them. Kamandi, Ben and Pypar were saved when Aborigine burrowed under the guards, causing a cave-in that swallowed them. Kamandi panicked, saying they were trapped, but Pypar had Aborigine use his “look-see” power to transmit images of the Brittaneks, bulldog members of the Horse Marines, riding to the rescue. They snuck through the citadel, observing more Leopard-Men gassing giant insects and processing their corpses in a power plant. Kamandi was disgusted to see a virtual Eden ruined, but Captain Pypar reminded him the cavalry was on the way, and pointed to the Brittaneks arriving. Other armies arrived and Pypar met with his commanding officer in the Brittaneks. Kamandi kept piping up, which was not appreciated by the CO, so Pypar sent him and Ben away. Kamandi and Ben explored the newly set-up army barracks, with Kamandi wishing they could extricate themselves. Aborigine’s presence annoyed Kamandi, who compared him to Gunga Din. In the barracks Kamandi red up on the Brittaneks, Germaneks, Napoleoneks, Garibaldeks, Spandars, Greks, and Torks, who formed the Band of Brothers or Nations of the Atlantic Testament Orders. They were divided by animal species, with each army having modeled themselves on a different pre-Disaster national army, and Kamandi realized they’d drawn their inspiration from a garbled version of world history. NATO laid claim to the Dominion of the Devils, and put it under their protection, explaining their conflict with Sacker’s Company. Pypar kicked them out of the barracks for snooping, and Kamandi got increasingly frustrated, saying the Great Disaster changed nothing, and that animals had adopted all the bad behaviors of man. Ben and Kamandi admired the parts of the rain forest not ruined by the Leopard-Men when they spied the Leopard-Men building up their defenses in preparation for war with NATO. Ben started ripping up their artillery, and he told Kamandi to flee. NATO approached, but were being butchered by the Leopard-Men. Unable to watch anymore senseless carnage, Kamandi stole a Leopard Man’s gun and aimed it at their ammo, acting like the animal they all thought of him as, and threatening to blow it sky-high. The panicked Leopard-Men broke ranks, and Captain Pypar chided Kamandi for not following command, but commended him for leaving the Leopard-Men vulnerable. NATO rode on the fleeing Leopard-Men, gaining the advantage. Ben and Kamandi were pleased with themselves, but decided to walk away from the whole mess.

(Kamandi #29) - Kamandi and Ben found a stone relief depicting the story of the Mighty One, Kla-Kent, who used his superhuman powers to fly into the Earth during a fiery eruption, dragging boulders to the surface to form a new continent, but perishing during the task. Kamandi recognized the Might One from his study of history as Superman. The Mighty One’s worshippers, a cult of Gorilla-Men, were watching Ben and Kamandi, and their elder, seeing Ben’s strange costume, proclaimed that he was the Might One reborn. Cultist Zuma had long claimed to be the reincarnation of the Mighty One and was furious at the thought of being usurped, and attacked. The elder broke up the battle and told Ben he’d have to go to the proving grounds of Nashnil to demonstrate he was the one they worshipped. Ben was not interested in being a messiah, but Kamandi convinced him it was in their best interest to play along. According to prophecy the Mighty One could leap higher than the tallest building, and the elder had them watch a claimant hop onto a catapult and get flung into the air. The elder admitted he was most likely dead, as were all those who had tried in the past to prove they were the messiah. Ben refused to get on the catapult, but Kamandi told him to show them his “secret identity,” and he pressed his cyclo-heart to turn into organic steel. The elder was astonished, but Zuma claimed it was a trick, challenging him to the feat of strength, moving the Daily Planet, a giant boulder. Zuma strained until he was nearly unconscious, but Ben used his foot to smash a hollow beneath the boulder, making it unstable enough for him to push. Most of the Gorilla-Men tribe were convinced he was their savior, but there were a few doubters, so the elder demanded a final test. Zuma helped set up the test, hoping it would kill Ben. The elder said he had to prove he was faster than a speeding bullet, and Zuma shot him repeatedly with a Gatling gun. Ben’s steel body was unscathed, and the elder proclaimed he’d dodged the bullets even though Zuma protested he’d been hit by all of them. The elder led Ben and Kamandi to their catacombs, which led to an active volcano where Superman’s suit was kept until he came to reclaim it. Zuma couldn’t stand to see the object of his greatest desire taken away from him, and grabbed the suit. Kamandi’s admiration of Superman kicked in, and he realized he couldn’t let Zuma have the suit. Kamandi and Zuma struggled, and when Zuma stepped on Superman’s cape, Kamandi yanked it from under him, tossing Zuma into the volcano. Kamandi was convinced that Superman must still be alive somewhere, and convinced the elder to stop looking for him, saying he’d present himself in his true form. The elder agreed to keep the suit untouched until the real Superman returned.

(Brave and the Bold I #120) -

(Kamandi #30) - Kamandi and Ben wandered into what they thought was an old bunker and fell fast asleep. The bunker was actually a UFO, and its’ owner, an extraterrestrial being in a containment suit named “Me,” flew them up into outer space before traversing the globe and landing on a small beach next to the ocean. Ben and Kamandi explored their new environment, amazed that the beach contained wonders from mankind’s history including the Great Wall of China, the Titanic and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. They theorized that the beach was a museum of man’s accomplishments, and they were brought there as representatives of the human race. They his in a plane when a ball of energy appeared in the sky, opening a wormhole to “Me’s” homeworld and sucking up the monuments on the beach. The plane was filled with the corpses of its passengers, seemingly frozen to death before the Disaster. One of the thawing corpses fell over, revealing an atomic satchel bomb. They knew the man was about to commit an act of terrorism before he died, and they fled the plane, with Ben saying he’d be immune to the explosion as a mutant, but buried Kamandi in sand for his safety. The wormhole sucked up the plane as the bomb exploded, shutting the wormhole. “Me” blamed Ben and Kamandi for interfering in its plans and attacked them. Ben and Kamandi ripped “Me’s” containment suit, revealing the alien as an energy being. The breech of the suit caused an explosion of strange energy. Kamandi was briefly knocked unconscious, and he woke to find Ben mutated into a giant metal goliath.

(Kamandi #31) - Prince Tuftan, his Tiger-Men soldiers and Dr. Canus were out exploring the ocean when Canus spotted “Me’s” island. They departed Great Caesar’s flagship on a motorboat and made ground where Canus was the first to run into Kamandi and the giant Ben. Ben picked up Canus, only releasing him when Kamandi pleaded with him. Ben soon grew restless and released an energy bolt from his eyes. Kamandi and Canus dodged the blast, which turned the sand around them into glass, and watched the mutate Ben, who didn’t seem to be in control of himself any longer, wander off. Kamandi explained how they’d been abducted in a UFO and led the eager Dr. Canus to it. Canus immediately set about exploring the wonder from space when Tuftan and his men encountered Ben, tossing explosives at him before being forced to flee. Tuftan grabbed Kamandi, claiming he was rescuing him, and the sped back to the flagship. Tuftan commanded his mean to ready their arms and bombard the island, but Kamandi didn’t want to see his friend hurt, and warned him that Caesar would be displeased if Canus died due to Tuftan’s hotheadedness. Canus met “Me” in the UFO, and the being showed that it could exist as a single entity or multiple ones, and Canus realized “Me” had fused part of itself to Ben, controlling him. Ben continued to grow larger and walked along the ocean floor until he reached Caesar’s flagship, at which point Tuftan ordered his men to fire. Kamandi thought Tuftan was acting big for his boots for a teenage prince, but Tuftan assured him he’d left childish ways behind, and was no longer a hip teen but his father’s very son. Ben nearly capsized the boat before emanating glowing energy, returning to the island and shrinking to normal size as “Me” left his body. Dr. Canus had convinced “Me” to cease hostilities, and said it had nothing to fear from them.

(Kamandi #32-34) - Canus introduced “Me” and the entity said it wished to return home, turning aggressive and firing bolts of energy and demanding Tuftan and Kamandi find its’ home until Canus calmed it down. Tuftan disliked being disrespected by an lien, but after sharing a laugh with Kamandi he broke his seriousness for a moment to say he missed his former carefree life. He was loyal to his father, the king, but the responsibilities of war and conquest were quite grim to him. A fleet of Gorilla-Men commandos, led by Ramjam, attacked Great Caesar’s flagship. Ramjam and some of his commandos used the distraction to storm the island and fire a concussion grenade that left Tuftan and company unconscious. Ramjam wanted Tuftan taken hostage and told his men to look for Dr. Canus, who’d returned to the UFO. Kamandi revived and began running to warn Canus. One of the commandos tried to catch him, but Ramjam ordered him to back off, saying they weren’t on the island to hunt animals. Kamandi found Canus tinkering with one of the UFO’s machines and Canus used the UFO’s scanner to show Kamandi the galaxy “Me” came from. Canus knew “Me” would help them defeat the gorilla commandos because they’d struck a bargain. Canus had promised to manufacture a physical body for “Me.” Ramjam and his men discovered the UFO and demanded admittance, but Canus was not intimidated. “Me” fused its’ energy with beach sand to create a temporary body. The sand being blasted the gorillas with sand and lightning until Ramjam surrendered. Tuftan and Ben had recovered and made mincemeat of their guards. They took Ramjam and his men prisoner and went to assist the flagship in fighting off the remaining commandos while Kamandi and Canus staid behind to help “Me.” Tuftan, his soldiers and Ben Boxer fought fiercely against the Gorilla Men, driving them off after a bloody battle. Tuftan’s Tiger-Men dragged Ramjam from the prisoner’s hold and the gorilla promised his men would return, rescue him and massacre them. Tuftan tied Ramjam to a post, put dynamite around his neck, and said that if the Gorilla-Men attacked him again he’d light the explosives and push Ramjam overboard. Ben was horrified with Tuftan’s grisly idea, but Tuftan said he’d do whatever it took to keep more of his men from dying. Dr. Canus explained the process he was going to use to create a body for “Me.” A conversion chamber would transform “Me’s” energy into mass, and because “Me” had taken a liking to Kamandi, he had been chosen as a template from which “Me” would create its’ body. The process worked, and “Me” began to emerge from the chamber. “Me” admired her new form, that of a red-skinned, blonde-haired female. Kamandi wondered why a superior species would want an Earthly body, and Canus said he had no answer for Kamandi’s question, which worried him, as did the fact that she wouldn’t reveal why she was on Earth in the first place. She struggled to control her new body and tripped. Kamandi remarked to Canus that she was helpless in a corporal body, enraging her. She blasted them with flames which they barely dodged, and Canus named her Pyra for pyromaniac. Pyra demanded they stay put while she went away by herself to master her new body. Kamandi and Canus kept an eye of Caesar’s flagship, wondering if another attack was imminent. Ben Boxer continued to try and talk Tuftan out of his bloody plan, but the prince would not be gainsaid. The gorilla fleet returned with an armored rammer, and threatened to cut the flagship in two and kill every man aboard if Tuftan didn’t surrender. Tuftan presented Ramjam, threatening to blow him sky high. Watching from the shore Kamandi decided to take action. Canus and Kamandi commandeered Pyra’s UFO which they piloted mentally. Pyra saw them flying off, yelling that it was too dangerous for them to fly her spacecraft without her. They buzzed the Gorilla-Men, drawing their fire, and this distraction allowed Ben Boxer to untie Ramjam, who immediately dove overboard, swimming away as Tuftan tried to shoot him. Tuftan was enraged, but Ben stood by his actions. Pyra arrived, melting the armored rammer and raining fire down on the Gorilla-Men, who fled. Pyra took back mental control of her UFO, and after a surge of energy Pyra, the UFO and it’s former pilots vanished into thin air.

(Kamandi #35) - Pyra explored space in her UFO, and Canus started to panic. He was as scientifically curious as ever, but being in space at Pyra’s mercy gave him anxiety, and when Kamandi started bad-mouthing Pyra Canus begged him to be quiet. Pyra spotted Soyuz X, a Soviet Union spacecraft that Kamandi knew must have been launched before the Great Disaster. They boarded the vessel and found it a wreck, having been hit with shockwaves and radiation during the Great Disaster. There was a living cosmonaut who’d survived the shockwaves by using his knowledge of yoga to put himself in a catatonic state. Pyra revived him, and the cosmonaut Leonid Vassilov revealed himself as a mutated amorphous creature. His last orders had been to launch an orbital bomb at Earth if he believed the US was at war with the USSR and he was determined to carry out his mission. He attacked Canus and Kamandi, but a burst of flame from Pyra forced him to retreat. Pyra found the craft’s recording of Vassilov witnessing the Great Disaster from space, and when Vassilov tried to attack them again Pyra burned a whole in the hull of the craft and exited with Kamandi and Canus, returning them to her UFO. Vassilov found the doomsday device wrecked, but nonetheless fumbled with it, intent on trying to repair it. Even though it was likely impossible to get the weapon operation Vassilov was determined to work uselessly at it forever.

(Kamandi #36) - Pyra landed back on Earth and explored ruins covered in vegetation in Acapulco. They discovered a mostly intact pre-Disaster hotel, and Pyra said she sensed the presence of a great many beings. Kamandi said it could wait, he was looking forward to unwinding for a bit and went swimming in the pool’s hotel. He was grabbed by Crocodile Men, who dragged him underwater and beneath the pool to some cavernous corridors. Satrap, the leader of the Crocodiles was furious that a human was fouling their water, believeing humans to all be disease carriers. Kamandi started a fight with the Crocodiles, but it was broken up by the Director, a Jaguar Man who ran the hotel. He brought Kamandi back safely to Pyra and Canus, saying the customer was always right. The hotel, which he called Resort was a shelter, and he served the guests, but the guests only kept their rooms as long as they could fend off attacks by other groups trying to displace them. They witnessed a group of Wolf Men evict the humans that were staying on the second floor, brutally attacking them. The Director said he served all guests and it was his duty to stay neutral and stay out of fights. Kamandi asked him about the rights of the weak, and the Director replied that he wasn’t a philosopher. Kamandi attack the director, and after tussling for a bit Kamandi demanded possession of the second floor for himself. Canus said he wasn’t getting involved because humans, as a rule, weren’t worth helping since they were responsible for the Great Disaster. The director led him to a room full of weapons and warned him that killing anyone on property grounds was strictly forbidden. Kamandi mixed some chemicals and put them in a tank with an attached hose, and the Director alerted the Wolf Men that someone was seeking to evict them. Kamandi was outnumbered, and the wolf Men fought dirty, with one of their number trying to kill him with a knife, but Kamandi’s sticky spray left them covered in a foul-smelling mess. They jumped in the pool to clean themselves, and were immediately beset by the Crocodiles, who dragged them underwater. The Director said the floor belonged to Kamandi, who chose to hand back possession of it to the evicted humans.

(Kamandi #37, 38) - Kamandi, Canus and Pyra witnessed a large group of humans being herded by the sound of music in a crater-filled wasteland. They found the music was coming from speakers embedded in the rocks of the wasteland, and Kamandi wanted to investigate, fearing the humans were in danger, so he blended in with the herd with Canus and Pyra providing air support from Pyra’s UFO. The humans were beset by the Red Riders, men riding ATV bikes armed with prods, and they captured any human they deemed a promising specimen. Kamandi got one of the Red Riders to chase him and leapt aside as he tried to drive him down, crashing into a crater. Kamandi jumped aboard the bike, grabbed a gun, and tried to save a girl one of the Riders captured. He was subdued, and the Riders were excited at the prospect of finding a talking human, deciding to bring Kamandi before the council of the Crater People. Pyra and Canus tried to fly to his rescue, but an anti-aircraft gun emerged from a crater and shot them down. Kamandi was introduced to the council, who explained that Crater People were an intelligent race of humans that rapidly developed intelligence once they were born, but died at the age of five. They hoped to extend their lifespan by having ordinary humans marry into their tribe and breed with them, and they thought Kamandi was an excellent candidate. Kamandi was alarmed, and they introduced him to Arna, the woman they wanted to pair him with. Kamandi went into a rage and attacked the Crater People, who worried that he was too wild to be part of their society. Arna had two of her servants subdue him, and took him to the Stalls, a maternity ward for the Crater People that was once part of a government Experimental Population Center that aimed to solve the problem of overpopulation. The tests performed there resulted in the short-lived humans that would become the Crater People. She had Kamandi stick his hand in a genetic reader and informed him that the machine would combine his genetic profile with hers to produce a child. Kamandi was distraught at the idea she’d tricked him into becoming a father and fled the Stalls, hiding in the Crater People’s underground complex. Crater Person Bruno found Kamandi had escaped and informed the council, who sentenced Arna to death for allowing their hope for their people’s future to slip away. They drew their guns and Arna fled, running into Kamandi who’d discovered an old anchorage and a working motor boat. Against his better judgment Kamandi let her escape with him, not wanting to see her executed. Bruno vowed to kill Kamandi if he ever returned. Arna tried to calm Kamandi down by lying and claiming the genetic sampler actually siphoned a bit of his life energy to sustain her people and would not result in the birth of a child. A giant lobster attacked the motorboat, crushing it and dragging Kamandi and Arna underwater.

(Swamp Thing II #46) - Kamandi was transported to Earth-1 due to the reality-altering effects of the Crisis caused by the Anti-Monitor. He was among the number of heroes teleported to the Monitor’s satellite by Alexander Luthor, Jr., who explained his plan to make sure the multiverse survived the Crisis.

(Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12) - Earth-AD and Kamandi were erased from existence by the Crisis on Infinite Earths. The boy in Earth's future who would have been known as Kamandi instead grew up to be space adventurer Tommy Tomorow.

Comments: Created by Jack Kirby.

Kamandi received a profile in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #12.

Bizarro-Superman wrote and illustrated “The Last Band on Earth!” comic book featuring Kamandi in Bizarro Comics #1.

All characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © DC Comics, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Please visit The Official DC Comics Site at: http://www.batman.com